


mud and molasses

by experimentorium



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Gamgam's home remedies, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, bc... every ship tag needs one, it’s mild but huh (squints) yeah its there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-02-28 04:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18748615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/experimentorium/pseuds/experimentorium
Summary: The moral of the story? In sickness and in health, Pearl would give Marina the world.





	mud and molasses

**Author's Note:**

> hi pearlina tag, it’s been 2873827373 years :’)
> 
> I am sick.... so now marina is too (edit: i was sick when i wrote this, both me and marina are perfectly healthy now, lol) 
> 
> this takes place just around off the hook’s first concert

Marina didn’t quite understand the issue, which was in itself, a rarity. She figured she just needed sleep, and the muddiness would pass, but overnight it only seemed to have gotten worse. Her head felt heavier than a rock, limbs weak and useless, legs wobbly whenever she tried to walk. It felt as if someone had reached out and pinched her nose shut, her throat was suddenly sandpaper and no matter how many times she blinked, her vision wouldn’t still.

    She was sick. What kind of shit was this? The last time she was sick for real was… she couldn’t quite remember.

    _It’s okay, I’ll just go to Nessa’s and get_ —

    Her heart stalled. Nessa was far away. No immunization shots for her. She was in her newly-purchased apartment near the edge of Inkopolis, sick. She hadn’t even bothered buying cold medicine. She hadn’t anticipated this!

    ...She should’ve listened to Pearl. Oh! What kind of thought was that? She should’ve _listened_ to _Pearl_? She really must be sick.

    Marina groaned, pulling the blanket over her head. (Too hot.) She squirmed out of the sheets impatiently. (Too cold.) She contemplated throwing herself out of the window. After another period of struggle, she ended up on the floor, tangled all up in her bedsheets. She resigned to her place, resting her forehead on the cool wood floors. It felt nice.

    Ah. Marina had agreed to meet Pearl today, to discuss the planning for their first concert; the set list, contacting their manager for details on the venue’s policies... Ah! Their first _concert!_ Marina scrambled out of her blankets and nearly slipped trying to make it to the bathroom. Her vision tunneled at once and she braced herself against the doorframe, trying to peer into her mirror.

    The injustice! She looked like she’d been steamrolled. Even her tentacles were limp and melancholy. She grabbed her phone off of the vanity and blinked a few times until her vision steadied before turning it on. 11:36. She _never_ slept that late. She was also due to meet Pearl at that one cafe in the Reef… two hours ago. And to think, she was the one who bothered Pearl to meet her so early. Left undisturbed, Pearl could sleep for forty-eight hours straight. And so, her discontent was evident in all the texts accumulated on Marina’s phone screen. Three missed calls, about forty million angry unread text messages. Marina sighed, with a smile. She called Pearl back.  

    “ _What the hell. You better have a good explanation, girl, ‘cause you cost me some_ fan-tastic _beauty sleep, and if this affects my—_ ”

    “I’m sorry, Pearl,” Marina croaked.

    “ _Oh… shit, you sound awful._ ”

    She hummed. “Thanks so much.”

    “ _Hey, what did I tell you, crazy pants? You gotta sleep, you gotta take care of yourself or else you get sick, y’know? You’ve been doing, like, the exact opposite of taking care of yourself lately, and honestly one of these days I’m gonna—_ ”  
    “Pearl. Can you pick up some cold medicine for me?” Marina ignored Pearl’s nagging. It was constant, _you gotta eat right, Marina, you look exhausted, girl, get some sleep!_ For a three year age difference, you’d think Pearl was her mother.

    “ _Sure, of course, Reena, but I’m takin’ care of you today, awright? My Gamgam’s special treatment, lots of tea and chicken soup!_ ”

    “Buh… what about the concert, Pearl?” Marina sank to the ground with a sigh. She leaned back against the bathtub.

    “ _The concert? Doesn’t matter now, you—_ ”  
    “Doesn’t matter? Pearl, we’ve been working for this—” as soon as she raised her voice she broke into a cough. Seriously, drinking lava would feel better than this.

    “ _Marina. The concert can wait. Right now your health is the priority_ .” Pearl said it simply, and the genuine care in her voice caused some sort of warmth to flush through Marina’s chest, and it sure wasn’t heartburn. “S _o, I’m gonna bring a buncha stupid movies and also orange juice and obviously soup and hey, maybe I’ll grab some of my old favorite Fresh Fish soup bowls—you know, I ate from those when I was a kid—_ ”

    “Pearl,” Marina smiled. “Just the cold medicine is fine.”

    “ _No way! Today’s gonna be the ultimate sick-day-slash-housewarming-party, I’m gonna shower you in luxury! And also maybe soup._ ”

    “Bye, Pearl.”

 

    It started raining soon after Pearl had arrived at the apartment, her arms full of the proper cold-be-gone care pack necessities, from chicken broth and vegetables to be cooked in it to big, fluffy blankets, tea bags and a fine plethora of cheesy movies. These such movies, Marina realized, were one of Pearl’s areas of expertise. Besides having a fantastic voice and a great ear to match, she had a sort of knack for picking out the crummiest movies that _just so happened_ to fit the occasion perfectly.

    Today’s selection was a wide array of what Inklings called rom-coms, otherwise known as romantic comedies. Marina wasn’t much of a movie person to begin with (Pearl’s antics didn’t help the fact,) but anything to distract her from this godawful annoyance of a cold was welcome.

    Pearl had set straight to work preparing the soup, Marina watched her from the little round table between the small kitchen and the windows.

    “Who’s Gamgam again?” Marina watched Pearl turn the knob on the stove until the burner ignited beneath the pot, laying out ingredients haphazardly over the countertop.

    “Only the best gramma to exist in the history of forever!” Pearl pulled open a few drawers until she found the one with the paring knives— Pearl had insisted upon her buying _a full set of cuttingware_ for her new apartment. “ _For cooking lessons,_ ” Pearl had said. More like Pearl trying to teach Marina how to not set the kitchen on fire. It was endearing, but the last batch of burnt up rock cakes they’d made proved that Marina wasn’t really cut out for pursuing the culinary arts. She let Pearl stick to all that.

    “You could say I’m her favorite grandkid,” Pearl smirked. “I totally am. She’s the one who got me on my music kick, her and my mom…” she held her tongue over her top lip in concentration as she started slicing the carrots. They fell to the cutting board in uneven coins, some more tree-trunk and others thin as paper.

    “Here,” Marina stood, easing the knife from Pearl’s hand. The one thing she could do with confidence and ease— slicing vegetables. Pearl frowned, but let her take over.

    “Anyways, Gamgam always came to all my concerts and recitals, she’s a great coach, and honestly she’d probably gonna live forever. You know she told me she had a band when she was my age?”

    Marina, observant as she was, realized that Pearl had a lot to say, all the time. She got the idea that Pearl had kind of been independent for most of her life. She was close with her family, that much was clear, but Marina had never detected any friends, none as close as they were, at least. There were her old bandmates, but all Marina really knew about them was that the way they treated Pearl was less than fantastic. Secretly, Marina was glad she quit that old band. They didn’t deserve somebody as good as Pearl.

“Watch it,” Pearl put her hand over Marina’s. She realized she had a choking grip on the knife, her precise slices turning to more violent chops. “What did those carrots ever do to you?”

Marina pursed her lips. She was still figuring out a good answer for when Pearl asked her questions like this.

“...Too orange.” she settled on. Pearl snorted.

“A worthy offense… I guess? Anyways, Gamgam’s a _monster_ on the electric guitar, you’ve gotta hear her play sometime…”

Marina found she didn’t mind Pearl’s chatter. She was funny, and open, and sweet. It was easier for Marina to share herself with her.

 

It was truly deceptive, the nature of a head cold. In the morning you feel fine, and afternoons are hazy but oddly energetic. Marina found she could complete all the chores she had been putting off since moving in, including floor sweeping, unpacking, box folding, and room cleaning. Other events included TV-hooking-up and finally taking down the cheap fabric drapes to exchange them for the special blackout ones Pearl bought for her (“ _A housewarming gift!_ ”)

“You’re sure you’re not feeling well?” Pearl seemed to be amused by her friend’s compulsive busywork.

“It’s a distraction, from all that,” Marina answered quickly, carrying two heavy metal toolboxes into her bedroom.

The apartment was quickly beginning to smell wonderful, less like floor cleaner and more like hot food. Between her impatience and annoyance at her own immune system, Marina realized she hadn’t eaten anything.

 

The deceptive nature of the headcold truly bares its fangs once the sun sets. Something about the dark makes the mud gather quite fast in your head. Pearl and Marina had migrated to the sofa soon after eating the soup Pearl had made (“ _Gamgam’s specialty_ ,” Pearl insisted.)

(“ _You’ll have to meet her someday—hey, I’ll take you sometime soon! She keeps on asking me about you…_ ” Pearl slurped her soup loudly.  Marina rolled her eyes.

Truthfully, she was still a little bit nervous around Pearl’s family.)

Pearl took her temperature with a thermometer she’d brought along in her big care pack. It was oddly domestic. Marina closed her eyes and let herself relax as Pearl lifted a tentacle away from her face and held it there, her knuckles brushing against Marina’s temple.

She cringed every time she swallowed. Breathing became more difficult again, her head spun too much to focus on the movie anymore, so she closed her eyes, tried to listen to the characters’ voices, the sound of the rain outside. Pearl interrupted every few seconds to say something about the actors (“ _I had a crush on her when I was a kid,_ ”) or the setting (“ _I went here with my dad, once!_ ”) Her voice seemed to grow farther and farther away, a distant blur mixing into a slowly building headache.

    After Marina had curled into herself, lying down on the cushions, she felt Pearl lift a blanket up over her shoulders. Wordlessly, Pearl sat back in her spot, leaning back and trying to keep quiet so Marina could get some rest.

    Things started getting a little hazy. Marina couldn’t really tell if she was freezing or boiling, some abstract sense of time and touch spreading slowly over her like heavy, thick molasses. Voices from the TV sounded more like fizzing static, her breath slowed, did her eyes roll back into her head, or something? Good Cod, this must be what an overheated laptop felt like…

    She wanted to squirm and roll around or something, just move a little, but moving meant cold and cold was no good, she shivered and pulled the blanket tighter around her, but it felt just about as good as a layer of air covering her. If she lifted herself up there was no guarantee she would stay upright.

    A cool sensation spread across her forehead, she tried to open her eyes. Was that Pearl? When did Pearl come over… ?

    “You’re burning up…” she looked concerned. Concerned for her? She was okay. Just a little cold.

    “I—m… okay…” Marina whispered. Another cringe, why was her throat so _dry_?

    “I’m gonna get you some more medicine, okay? Then you can sleep a little better—”

    Marina feebly reached out from her blanket hollow and gripped Pearl’s wrist, wincing a little at the sudden loss of heat.

    “No… stay… n’feels nice…” she held Pearl’s cold hand to her forehead. And, it did feel nice. The cool touch helped ease some of the mud and molasses clogging up her head, she exhaled her relief.

    “I can…” Pearl’s voice softened. “Go, get an ice pack for you?”

    “This’s… okay,” Marina mumbled.

    “I can’t stay here forever, Marina.” Pearl chuckled, staying by her side nonetheless. She let the pad of her thumb glide gently over Marina’s heated skin, smoothing the frown wrinkle where her brow furrowed. Marina sniffed, tears gathering in the corners of her hazy eyes.

    “Th-thank you, Pearlie…”

    “Marina… ” Pearl smiled, eyebrows lifting.

    “No, you… you w’re there… for me, you,” her words slurred together, she sniffed again through her congestion. “I… I bothr’d you, I couldn’a…”

    “Come on, you weren’t bothering me…”

    “N… no?” Marina looked up at Pearl with big, watery eyes. Her nose full of snot, she couldn’t even swallow properly, more tears blurred her vision.

    “‘Course not, girl, trust me on that... “ Pearl raised her other hand to Marina’s cheek, swiping a stray tear away with her thumb.

    “B-b… you, I don’, don’ deserve—” she broke into a cough this time, her shoulders shaking. “I-I don’t—”

    “Hey, now, don’t talk like that,” Pearl reached over and grabbed the tissue box, then a glass of water, which Marina took and sipped from gratefully. “You deserve the fuckin’ world.” Pearl’s cheeks colored a little, she was semi-glad Marina was too blubbery to notice.

    “You… you…” Marina took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. “...Pearlie... “ she mumbled, eyes fluttering shut again.

    “Get some sleep, Marina,” Pearl smiled, pulling an extra blanket over her friend’s shivery shoulders. “More soup in the morning.”

    “Hnn,” was Marina’s response, just before she drifted into an uneasy sleep. Slowly, Pearl removed her hands from Marina’s heated skin, relaxing back a little where she sat. She worried about Marina sometimes, but she was glad she was here now, to take care of her.

    _And with Gamgam’s soup,_ she thought, _she’ll be better in no time!_

    Pearl looked at Marina for a moment, wet tracks on her cheeks from briefly-shed tears and a pouty little frown on her face.

    ( _She deserves the whole fuckin’ world._ )

**Author's Note:**

> (thanks for reading! I feel like I don’t express it enough, but I do appreciate everyone who leaves kudos/comments.. it brightens my day a little :’D)
> 
> also, if anyone caught it right in the beginning... I have some ocs... i sprinkled one of my girls in here.. she may or may not appear in future tidbits (if i ever pull my ass together and post more haha, ha....) 
> 
> for some reason??? I just have a thing with pearl and bad movies... I don’t understand why lol 
> 
> also! constructive criticism is welcome.. I’d like to work to better my writing skills, and having outside opinions really does help :’


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